Osler Building Heads for Makeover as an Ambassador Hotel

The historic Osler Building will reopen next year as a boutique hotel under the Ambassador flag,

The historic Osler Building will reopen next year as a boutique hotel under the Ambassador flag, NewsOK.com reports. Ambassador Hotels is on track to close on the acquisition of the seven-story property next month and start renovations soon afterward. Located at 1200 N. Walker, the Osler Building has been empty since MidTown Renaissance Group acquired the property in 2006.

MidTown Renaissance originally planned to convert the Osler Building into a multi-family property, but the Osler’s tight, U-shaped floor plans and column spacing pose challenges for multi-family conversion, explained Chris Fleming, a MidTown Renaissance partner.

When it opens late next year, the hotel will offer 54 guest rooms, a ground-floor restaurant, a rooftop bar and a courtyard and pool on the east side of the property. New stairway and elevator towers will permit a better use of the building’s floor plates. Coury’s plan eliminates the multiple kitchens requuired for an apartment complex, and generally offers a better fit for both the building and the community, Fleming added.

Coury opened the first Ambassador Hotel in Tulsa in 1999, and in 2006 acquired the Colcord, a Tulsa office building, which he converted into a boutique hotel. The Colcord Hotel was sold to Devon Energy Center in 2008 and since then, Coury has branded each new property as an Ambassador.

The second Ambassador Hotel opened in Kansas City’s Power and Light District following an $11 million renovation of the 96-year-old Grand Bank Building. A 117-room Ambassador in Wichita is scheduled to open next month. Signature features of the properties include restaurants operated in house rather than by outside vendors.